Brian Taylor will return to air after homophobic remarks

AFL commentator Brian Taylor will resume commentary duties on Channel 7 and radio station 3AW this weekend after calling Geelong player Harry Taylor “a big poofter” live on air during a Saturday night pre-game coverage.

Taylor was set to call the Sunday’s Essendon-Collingwood game on 3AW, but was asked by management to stay home and “gather (his) thoughts”.

Channel 7 has committed to counselling and education for Taylor, and 3AW has said they will investigate whether further action will need to be taken.

The commentator apologised to Geelong’s Taylor at half-time, as well as his friends and family. Harry Taylor has accepted the apology, but it has been criticised by many as “missing the point” by failing to acknowledge the potentially broad homophobic harm caused by the slur.

Taylor previously came under fire in June for remarks made on 3AW, when he called the dress style of colleague Seb Costello “gay”.

Host of Channel 7’s AFL Game Day Hamish McLachlan also apologised for the comments.

In a written statement, Seven Melbourne condemned Taylor’s remarks as “unacceptable”: “Brian has been censured, and will be supported through counselling and education to ensure this mistake will never happen again.”

The AFL has said it is satisfied by Channel 7’s response. The league contacted the station soon after the incident, calling for an apology and for the remarks to be withdrawn, and was told a response was already under way.

5 Comments

What next, will nigga or blackie be acceptable? This bloke should be sacked, end of fucking story. We still suffer hate crimes, we are still killed each year, and this sort of language on a commercial network helps create an environment ripe for violence. You cannot even watch a game of football without being abused.

When will the urge to be offended and claim victimhood end? After poofter, retard and fag the next words on the hit list must be fatty, baldy, hairy, stinky & ugly. Pretty much any adjective to describe a person or act that someone doesn’t like are in peril. I weep for the future.

I really want the Star Observer + the Gay + Lesbian Lobby to take this further with Channel 7 + 3AW. Brian Taylor isn’t sorry for his pejorative comment, he is only sorry he was caught out! Most of us filter what is or isn’t appropriate before we speak. Therefore, the more important issue here is that buffoons like BT still regard being gay as being weak, thinking it is acceptable to speak that way at 6:30pm on Saturday! He is sorry people were offended, but makes no apology for being homophobic + regarding gay people as ‘soft’! BT’s classic ‘non’ apology is insulting because he has no understanding of the impact of his words.
Then we have the District Court Judge who compared incest and paedophilia to homosexuality.
While people who hold prominent positions continue to promote ignorant beliefs, it is difficult to expect changes to thinking in society. To quote another, who expresses it well:
The powers that be at networks like “Ch7 + 3AW who employ Brian Taylor, are actively setting the standards for the clown show approach, bracing this kind of idiocy to degrade the minds of their followers. It can be guaranteed they’ve financed actuarial studies on what will sell advert revenue and built their presentation and commentary team around that – angling it at the lowest denominator on purpose.
The Channel 7 production team are the ones who decided not to build a commentary team of intelligent, professional presenters who can raise the quality of the experience for viewers.
That is the debate to flame from this spark – we’re sick of it – and if you’re not, then you’re the person they are targeting!“
A professional would never use the term, such a thought wouldn’t occur to them.
Still even now, as Geelong supporters, we’ve been dealing with homophobic slurs for decades, with our team being called ‘the handbaggers’, because we were regarded as too ‘soft’ to win finals games or Grand Finals.
Harry Taylor of Geelong Cats said of BT + his slur, “He’s apologised now and we accept the apology, and I certainly accept the apology.”
“Our club respects diversity in our game and in our society and I know all of our players are very big on that and I don’t think those things should be said in our game but also in society.”
In the light of Ian Thorpe’s interview with Michael Parkinson, the need to stop the perpetuation of homophobia + change the attitude of all the ‘Brian Taylors’ is what is now important!
To quote Rob Stott’s article about Ian Thorpe’s interview:
“It’s also been suggested that this isn’t “news”. “Thorpie’s a great athlete and an Australian legend and that’s all that matters,” they say.
That’s true, but Thorpie’s news is still “news” in every sense of the word.
It’s news for the next gay kid who has to deal with the unbelievable pressure of being the best at something.
It’s news for the gay kid who idolised Thorpie and has been struggling for years with his or her own demons.
Most importantly, it’s news for the Brian Taylors of this world that you can still be a big poofter and an Australian hero.